The Costs of Global Leadership and Neighborhood International Politics

Abstract

The article examines the trends in international relations that have emerged in recent years, including during the pandemic. According to the author, a clear international space structure in the vein of Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-system, with equally clear rules of the game in such space is associated with the presence of an enforcer. The enforcer here is a country or group of countries that impose certain forms of communication on the international space, making the behavior of agents of the international political space predictable. Such a position for the enforcer, among other things, makes it possible to obtain benefi ts (material and status ones) that exceed its costs. This situation was not least determined by the relative homogeneity of the international space actors (States). However, in reality, as shown in the article, there are many more variants of polities in the world, which, under certain conditions, were convenient to imitate state political institutions. The conditions change is leading to actualization of such polities. The actualization of diversity results in a sharp escalation of the enforcer’s costs, a drop in their eff ectiveness and the attractiveness of the enforcer’s position itself. The leader bears more and more signifi cant costs ceases to perform its functions. Here, in place of the institutional system set by the enforcer, comes a diff erent way of organizing international relations – interpersonal trust, which arises and is strengthened by personal communication. Until recently, such “decisionmakers’ clubs” were not as bright as the enforcer, but they connected the global world. However, the pandemic also disrupts this type of communication or rather complicates it. As a result, the hierarchy of problems changes. The problems of domestic politics and the international problems that aff ect them come to the fore. Global politics is being replaced by “neighborhood” politics. In the age of the world without a global leader and regional players rivalry, tomorrows “weight” of one country depends on how eff ectively it will be able to fi t in the new type of political structure.